So do bettas really get along in a community setting?

[TN Tanks]

I love the way bettas look, really regal fish. I would love to add at least one to each of my tanks, here are the set ups:

150 Gal
4 Silver Dollars
20-40 Assorted tetras
6-10 Angels
2 Plecos
6 Mollies
3 Crown Loaches


135 Gal
8 Mollies
6 Tiger Barbs
6 Rosy Barbs
1 Red Tail Shark (Very reclusive)
1 Blue Crawfish

Think it will work?

 

[Christmasfish]

Oooo! With all those fin nippers in both tanks poor mister betta will look like a used shop rag in no time! 8O
Angels and barbs especially have a rep for loving to nip the slower betta and gourami and their trailing doo dads. Even a neon tetra will get brave enough to nip bettas if in a big group.
Bettas, especially veil tails are very slow moving fish. Slow equals target. :|

 

[Kerrinne]

If any of your tetras are Buenos Aries tetras, they will nip bettas for sure. Mine did - so I had to get a separate tank for my betta.

 

[grimlock3000]

To work good in a community, the tank has to be full of fish that will not go after the Betta, and also those fish must not look like something that Betta would take offense to. Basically the best setup is a bunch of plain looking smaller fish that are not aggressive and do not have many different colors. Neither of your tanks would work too well IMO.

My Betta also sleeps on the bottom a lot like a few other Bettas I have seen, this would make one a prime target for the Crawfish.

 

[Menagerie]

Fin nippers are definitely going to like your betta (a little too much). I had a male in my 29 gal and by the next morning he did not look so hot :x . I did have luck keeping a female in the community tank (but she was a b:censor:h, she had already proven herself by viscously attacking neon tetras that were supposed to live with her and then I thought she could live with the male--oh no, he lost that battle).

 

[Roach]

I have a 29 gal tank with:
4 neon tetras
4 red eyed tetras
2 tiger barbs
2 blood fin tetras
2 ballon mollies
1 fancy male guppy
1 yellow platy
1 white pearl molly
1 betta
1 pleco

The Betta was added a week ago although my tank was already at its limits for stock. Even though I read many posts about not putting a Betta in with such fish I did anyway. Why? Because when I was a newb and set up my tank my daughter wanted one also so I got her one of those little 1/2 gallon Betta tanks and a Betta. Altough the 1/2 gallon tank was certainly better than the little cup he lived in at the pet store he still did not seem happy. He would stay down at the bottom corner of the tank 24/7 and would seldom eat. What kind of life is that? So I took a chance and put him in my tank about a week ago. For the first day he hid in the plants but now he is always out exploring every square inch of the tank at a nice leisurely pace and has a healthy appetite. The other fish don't seem to bother him, and he does not seem to mind them, except for the white pearl molly, if she swims near he will puff out his gills but does not attack and she just swims away. Even if they tatter his tail a bit , which they haven't yet, I will leave him in there because he seems so much happier.

 

[Sati]

I have a 38g community tank with:

5 Cardinal Tetra
3 Rummy Nose Tetra
3 Neon Tetra
2 Red Eye Tetra
1 Upside Down Catfish
1 Keyhole Cichlid
1 Hi Fin Marigold Platy
1 Harlequin Rasbora
1 Golden Zebra Loach/Burmese Loach
1 Glowlight Tetra
1 Common Pleco
1 Blue Varigated Guppy
... and 1 Betta

I had 2 more guppies and they all got along great for about 3 months. Then the guppies started really pushing it and 2 got killed. The one guppy left and the 1 beta are fine now.

 

[stoneydee]

It's really strange for me - with all the posts about aggressive male bettas, I;ve found my female betta in the community tank to be more so. I've got three males in community tanks (one male in each tank), and they don't seem to pay much attention to the tankmates at all, unless it's bloodworm time. Then each one swoops down on the choicest bloodworms, eats a couple and the tankmates eat the rest. Little Miss on the other hand has decided that the whole 20 gallons is hers, and she will only grudgingly allow the others (a combination of tetras, swords and dwarf African frogs) to coexist. Fortunately, the tetras and swords are much faster than she is, and the frogs have lots of little hidey holes.

 

[Guest]

My beta got along ok with zebra danios, but it kind of pecked at the mollies when I tried to introduce those. Usually anything that doesn't resemble the betta with long fins or bright colors.

 

[fearlessfisch]

My tank is described below, and has a betta. I used to have a tank a long time ago that actually had tiger barbs and a betta, and they did just fine. However, I've heard that that is the exception rather than the rule. I think having a big tank and a relatively large school of barbs lessened their aggression, but I'm still not sure I would chance it again.

 

[centuriJon]

betta tip

Here's a neat betta trick:
get yourself some java moss and attach it to suction cups (with plant wire, or something).
Then stick it to an upper corner of the tank -- right near the surface.
Betta's love it!
Often mine will sleep in it at night, and I was thinking that it would help keep them safe from any crawfish / pinching invertebrates, or from fin nippers who stick to the bottom of the tank (though why you'd put a betta in with one, I don't know)

 

[Christmasfish]

My bettas and croaking gourami love chaise lounges too. I but those fake reptile leaves made of resin and suction them, or fake lillies.
Strangely the striatus botia sleeps at the surface with the gourami...


I hope he is one of the lucky ones with a community betta. *crosses fingers* Bettas are territorial , but you'll notice they are very happy when the mesh with the tank community. Maybe he'll start a new peaceable planted kingdom tank with his betta to be the big cheese in that tank.
I looove labyrinth fish! They are are interactive and personable, like cichlids, and they have been tested to identify different people from their person.(yeah, some per-fessers with money really had nothin better to do..). I gotta find that link. That and the fight reflex unconditioning experiment link (social science thesis).

 

[vega]

6 Tiger Barbs might nip the betta..

HTH

 

[Calcifer10000]

I stuck a male beta into my 29gal tank and it did fine in a pop of guppies (all female), zebra danios and neons. The problem came when I bought 3 black-skirted tetras without realizing they were aggresive. (I've always been under the impression that tetras were all delicate, gentle fish. Boy was I wrong!) They ripped my poor beta to tatters in one night. I wasn't able to save him.

But I have another beta a friend gave me and I put him in my 'more' peaceful 10 gal, with 3 bright red male guppies. He chased them around for a day or so, but didn't harm them and now basically ignores them. I think if you don't have anything that'll endanger the beta, he most likely can tolerate most fish, even colorful male guppies. Then again, I might just be lucky to have a lazy beta.

 

[Christmasfish]

I've seen peaceable males..and aggressive females. bettas area as individual as the jars they grew up in.